Shades of Grey
by Incu
Summary: People go through life worrying about right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness. But in life, nothing is ever truly black and white. As the Titans will learn, it's merely a variety of shades of grey... *Repost* *Dead*


**Shades of Grey**

There exists both darkness and light in this world, good and evil. It exists everywhere, inside of everyone the potential to become immersed in either extreme. Few people accept, or define, anything as being in between them. Even fewer understand the delicate balance of the scales they achieve.

I am one of the few who knows, who strives to become either extreme. Preferably good, but I would settle for evil, just so I could look at myself in the mirror and have a purpose. A purpose besides what I have now.

A purpose besides revenge.

It just eats away at me, knowing that is all that drives me when I wake up. My only hope is that when it's done, I'll finally know peace for the first time in my life.

That day, the twelve of them tried to kill me to get at my father. They made just one mistake then, they didn't make sure I died. Most of them are now dead or sealed away forever. Only one remains, and I will cherish his dying breaths. I just have to get to him.

Or rather, he just has to get to me.

I've been observing his one means of access to this plane of existence for some time. She and her friends have been playing hero for some time now, and she has, for the most part, found peace. I envy her for that. Right now, I watch them from a dark alley as they fight to save their precious city from a creature known as Cinderblock. He should be dispatched of quickly by them, but is proving more of a challenge than usual. One of her friends is thrown into her, and she hits the wall of a building, almost falling into unconsciousness. She doesn't notice the debris knocked loose above her, which starts to plummet towards her…

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Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at Cinderblock, covering Starfire as she flew Robin over the concrete behemoth. Swinging him by the arms, she released at the last second sending the Boy Wonder straight at their foe as he kicked with all his might. His steel-plated boots collided with Cinderblock's head, sending him reeling backwards as Star unleashed a barrage of starbolts and Raven threw any nearby objects at him.

Beast Boy then tried to bum rush the villain from behind as a rhino, but Cinderblock recovered in time to grab his horn and hurl him at his airborne assailants. Star managed to avoid her companion, but Raven was not so lucky. The two collided and were sent sprawling out of the fight, Raven into a building that had sustained some damage early on in the fight.

Robin dodges one of Cinderblock's punches and sees too late the loose debris over top of his gothic friend. He tries to cry out a warning as he rushes to her aid, knowing none of them can make it and that she would be too dazed from the impact to do anything.

A blurred figure suddenly appears next to Raven, who grabs her then nimbly jumps out of the way at the last moment. Robin appraises him in the split second before Cinderblock knocks him away with a massive arm. The figure wore dark clothing and calf length black boots underneath a black trench coat. He had his long black hair pulled back in a simply ponytail, and his skin was pale, almost as pale as that of the girl he was gently setting down.

The man turned towards the giant rushing at him and dashed forward, striking his would-be attacker in the chest with an open palm. Cinderblock is sent flying backwards and skids to a stop on his back several yards away. The stranger stood calmly as the villain stood up and attacked him. He fluidly dodged every punch and kick, finally jumped up and struck Cinderblock under the chin, sending him flying upwards and crashing down into unconsciousness.

This all took place in about fifteen seconds as the Titans tried to regain their composure to unite against their foe. However, they could only stare dumbstruck at the man who single handedly beat someone who was difficult for them to beat at their best.

The figure walked over to the now standing Raven and spoke softly to her. She answered him, and he started to walk towards an alleyway. Robin managed to stop him when he cried out, "Wait a sec, who the hell are you?"

The man looked over at Robin with eyes that were bottomless pools of green. "Who I am," he said curtly, "is none of your business." With that he disappeared into the alley. Robin ran to its entrance, but was greeted with only the sight of garbage and rubble from the fight.

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The Titans were relaxing in the main room after the authorities had taken away Cinderblock. Well, _almost_ all the Titans were relaxing.

"Who was that guy, and how did he take down one of our worst enemies down so fast, by himself even!" the Boy Wonder fumed as he paced in front of the couch.

"Dude, relax already. He took down Cinderblock and saved Ravens life, so he must be on our side, right?" Beast Boy said.

"Not necessarily. Remember what happened with _her_." Raven spat out with a little bit of anger seeping into her voice. BB instantly got a hurt look on his face and shut up, and the Gamestation started to glow black and Cyborg jumped in to save the precious machine.

"Whoa, Raven, chill out. Just 'cause one person betrayed us doesn't mean we don't trust anybody ever again. We wait to see what happens with this mystery guy and approach the situation more cautiously this time."

Robin stopped pacing and sighed deeply. "Cyborg's right. We can't jump to any conclusions one way or the other. We now just wait to see what happens the next time he shows himself and hope for the best."

Star squealed with delight. "Glorious! I cannot wait to meet our new friend again! I hope he can stay longer next time! By the way friend Raven, what was it that our new friend said to you?"

Raven blushed slightly. "He told me to be more careful of where I fly in the future and asked if I was alright."

"What'd you say back?" BB asked her curiously.

"I told him thanks for the concern, but to go to hell."

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I watch from a distance as the somber mood in Titans Tower lifts and the young warriors inside it relax for the first time since I revealed my presence. Looking back, I realize how stupid of a move it was. I could have just shifted the path of the rubble and they would have never noticed, so why did I show off, why did I fight for them?

_Because you __**want**__ recognition, you __**want**__ noticed, you __**want**__ to have friends…_a little voice in the back of my mind says. Of course it's right, I do want all of that. But I can't have it, nothing good can ever come of being friends with me. I can't allow anything like that to happen ever again…

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The next evening, after an uneventful day, the Titans left the Tower to have dinner at their favorite pizzeria. This decision was reached after Raven blew up the food that Beast Boy and Cyborg were attempting to make as they fought over whose food philosophy was better. Deciding to simply walk over, Raven teleported them all to the mainland and they hiked, or in some cases flew, to their destination. The group talked and laughed together, except for Raven. She normally wouldn't anyway, but she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. She slowed down and put some distance between herself and her friends. When they were out of earshot, she stopped completely. "I know you're there, so show yourself or else."

A figure slowly stepped out of the shadows of a nearby alley and into view. Raven withheld a gasp of surprise as she recognized the youth from the previous night.

She quickly sized him up. He was tall, maybe about five-ten to six foot. His dark clothing was very worn and faded, and his boots looked worn out enough to fall apart. His black hair was tied in a neat ponytail and tied with a piece of scrap cloth. His knee-length trench coat was made of a dark material that looked as weather beaten as his gloved hands. The odd thing was that the glove had just enough metal fixed in place to cover each separate knuckle, and it shone as if it were the only new thing he owned.

"So you finally noticed me. I guess it was only a matter of time after that blunder I made last night," he said as he stared at her with his piercing green eyes.

Raven was almost overwhelmed by his…_presence_. Now that he wasn't hiding it was like he was just radiating mystical power. "Who are you?" she asked him, "_What_ are you! No normal human could have that much power!"

He smiled at her grimly. "Who said I was human. And you're one to talk, Daughter of the Eighth Devil." Raven immediately stiffened. How could he know about her! He smiled a little bit bigger. "Don't worry, I don't intend to tell your friends about your lineage. And as for me, we share a somewhat similar parental line. Only thing is my father didn't bed a human."

"You seem awfully sure of yourself for someone who is only half-demon, you think just because you saved my life I won't attack you while knowing what you are." Raven pointed out dryly.

"You again seem to be one to talk, Lady Raven. You decided to talk with me alone while letting your friends go on without you. Seems rather smug, doesn't it?"

"What I seem like is none of your concern. What I want to know is who you are, how you know so much about me, and what the hell you want." Raven stated in her usual monotone. "And don't call me 'Lady Raven.' It's just Raven."

"My name I cannot tell you, as names have power over those of my lineage," the boy said. "As to how I know so much about you, I just asked around some of the more dark sides of the world because I need to know about you for what I want, which is your father's head on a platter." He said all of this calmly, but his eyes went from playful to ice cold in a split second. He looked behind her. "Your friends are coming. I believe that is my cue to leave."

"I don't think so! Aserath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven utters her incantations and seals the boy in a black translucent orb.

He smiles grimly yet again. "You can't keep me here if I don't want to stay, _Lady _Raven." A symbol glows a fiery orange on the back of his hand, and a burning sensation rushes through Raven as her shield shatters and she is flung backwards. Shock flows through Raven and she has one last thought as she starts to black out; that symbol couldn't have been what it looked like, the line it belonged to had ended centuries ago. The last thing she sees is the blast from Cyborg's sonic cannon hitting the boy as he ran towards her.

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Author's Note: This story is dead, and has been since 2005 or 2006 when I first published and then deleted it. It was to be the first of what was hopefully many stories published to this site. Unfortunately, I lacked the focus and creativity to keep it going then, and six years later realize that despite what I want that because of this and other things, that I'll never be much of a writer. This is a reposting of most of the chapters as one incomplete story, since at the time they were really just one separate and fragmented chapter. It will not be completed but if someone does think they can finish it, please contact me for permission to adopt or take over this so that I can follow it as well. While somewhat flawed, I wouldn't mind seeing it completed.


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